The Field's Musings

Strophic Structure (stanza structure) Is a structure where parallel lines can be grouped together in a common way. How do we know there is strophic structure? 1) Look for a refrain. A refrain is a regularly recurring verse that stands at the end of the stanza. The refrain is also known as the chorus. For examples see Psalms 39, 42, 43, 62, 67. See Isaiah 9:8-10:4 See the refrain in verses 9:12b, 9:17b. 9:21b, 10:4b. The division between these chapters is wrong (also the division between Psalm 42 and 43). 2) Look for an alphabetic acrostic This is a poem where each successive line or verse starts with a new letter of the Hebrew alphabet. See Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 135. Alphabetic acrostics were primarily for remembrance. Example: Isaiah 44:24-28 V24 Stanza 1 refers to events of the remote past V25-26 Stanza 2 refers to the present V27-28 Stanza 3 refers to the future The movement of tenses may indicate the change of stanza Figures of speech A figure of speech translate

Hebrew poetry is structure or cause to vibrate by different means. Parallelism The basic unit of a verse consists of two lines called bi-call??? You can get a three-line verse. This is called tri-call??? The different lines in the verse express similar thoughts. They say the same thing with different words. Psalm 19:8 ‘The statues of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;’ The commandments of the Lord are both for the heart and the eyes. Psalm 104:33 ‘I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being.’ Types of Parallelism a) Synonymous Parallelism This is when two or more lines of poetry express the same idea in different words b) Complete synonymous Parallelism This is when every member of the first line has a member in the second line. Psalm 142:2 ‘I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble’ A = I pour out my, I declare B = complaint, my trouble C = Before